From the Putsch to the March

This chapter argues that the unfolding of large-scale paramilitary marching coups in Italy, Germany, and Austria during the 1920s and early 1930s was the tangible product of a transfer of practices between the Italian fascist regime and German-speaking movements. More specifically, it traces the diffusion of a novel transnational performative model consisting of nationwide violent paramilitary mass processions moving towards state capitals as a specifically fascist attempt to publicly challenge the liberal-democratic order and impose an authoritarian transition of power. The increasing affirmation of this large-scale marching coup model during the 1920s was so impactful that it led to the hybridisation and, ultimately, to the disappearance of previously dominant organisational patterns for right-wing coups. Following an introductory comparison between assertive marches after fascist accessions to power in Rome, Berlin, and Vienna in 1922 and 1933, a second section discusses the historical novelty of the large-scale marching coup model as a peculiarly fascist practice. Drawing upon the cases of the Nazi- völkisch “Beer Hall Putsch” and the Heimwehr “Pfrimer Putsch” as the main events inspired by the Italian case, the third section defines the specific features of this model from a comparative perspective. The fourth section traces the transnational diffusion, reception, and local adaptation of the fascist marching coup within far-right milieux in German-speaking Europe, while the conclusion summarises the impact of this transfer of practices in its local and cross-border dimensions.